Favorite "Lesser-known" Bible Characters

Melchizadek

 

Phinehas, son of Eleazar. Just something about the passages that mention him, they're so...striking.

 

Shamgar. He took what he had and used it to serve God.

"And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel." Judges 3:31

 

Pastor Bob, you might find interesting a couple of short devotional writings that an elderly (now deceased) pastor friend of mine wrote on two lesser known Bible characters.

Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths: Jair - a Judge in Israel

Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths: Tola - the Seventh Judge

 

When lefty let fatty have it

 

Nathanael, a Jew inwardly circumcised of heart BEFORE he had ever met the Lord, whose praise was not of men, but of God.

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Jn 1

29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Ro 2

Some say Nathanael and the apostle Bartholomew are the same.

 

Onesiphorus (2 Timothy 1:16-18).
I preached on him once when out church had a gift day for the Persecuted Church.

 

I always liked the description of Eliakim:

I will drive him like a peg of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars. Isaiah 22:23-24

A very vivid use of language, his family hanging on him like a peg in the wall.

 

Well, it's post #10 already, with no mention of a woman, so:

from Num. 26-27

"by the Jordan across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them and said, 'Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the LORD commanded Moses'....The LORD said to Moses, 'The land is to be allotted to them as an inheritance'"

"The daughters of Zelophehad....belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. They approached...and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly, and said, Our father died....and left no sons....Give us property"

"So Moses brought their case before the LORD and the LORD said to him, 'What Zelophehad's daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property'"

 

Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, who posed as a prostitute and really got Judah's goat. I've wondered if this is symbolic of Christianity, the daughter(in law) of Judaism, with Judah admitting inthe end that she had more righteousness, so was not #burned#.

And then there is Rhoda, the servant girl who opened the door for Peter after the angel helped him escape jail. If that's all, why is her name given?

 

Striking is right. His account has been fascinating to me as well. He was certainly zealous for the Lord.

 

Jehoiada's account is a wonderful one. He was the spiritual mentor to Joash. Joash was faithful to the Lord while he could receive counsel from Jehoiada. However, after the death of Jehoiada, the king went astray from the lord.

Jehoida lived to be 130. And that at a time long after Moses.

J's son was Zechariah. J was angry at Zechariah's rebuke. He was stoned on the spot with the king's approval.

Something tells me that he might have been quite aged --possibly 100 or more.

 

Just last week I read through the book of 2 Chron. --not the parallel accounts.
I jotted down the names of all the prophets, seers, men of God especially anointed.
Perhaps I'll do a thread on that some day.

 

Even though Jonathan is not "lesser-known" as many we've mentioned, he is a very intriguing secondary figure -- always second to Saul and David.
Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths: Jonathan -- always a bridesmaid, never a bride

The following is not great poetry, but I tried to capture some of what I felt about the role of Jonathan, the son of Israel's first king, Saul.

Jonathan, Jonathan, Saul's oldest son --
You fought for your God, you fought for your king,
You fought for your country, you fought for your friend;
The loyalty you modeled is second to none.

Jonathan, Jonathan, God's soldier brave --
Fearless to battle you shunned not to go
And went with one against a host to show,
No restraint to God by many or few to save.

Jonathan, Jonathan, David's best friend --
Caught in the middle playing second fiddle,
Heir to the throne must have seemed such a riddle;
You resigned that God's will is the best in the end.

Jonathan, Jonathan, loyal to the end --
You could not be king if your friend would reign.
Loyalty to father and friend must have caused pain.
You died with your father and died for your friend
(for you must die if he would reign).

Written in September 2007

 

Tabitha, or Dorcas: Disciple at Joppa, Doer of good, Helper of the poor, Designer of garments, Raised from the dead
Acts 9:36-42

 

The unnamed little maid.

• 2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
• 3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
• 4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.

 

Interesting topic! I have a few on some women, lesser known and some more well known:

How about the lesser known:

The [no-named] wife of Noah, who stood by him, for hundreds of years, believing that God had spoken to him of the destruction of the world, and acting upon her faith, hope and love of God, going through it all [with mockings] with him, losing what seemed like all things, and yet coming out the other side of great tribulation, inheriting all things with him. In believing, and working by that belief, as a living example, were not her children brought through with her?

Others for consideration would be Manoah's wife [KJB Judges 13], or Peter's wife [KJB Matthew 8:14], or even those which are single or virgins, like the little maid that served Naaman's wife [KJB 2 Kings 5:2].

We could even consider that woman above, even the “mother of us all”, New Jerusalem [KJB Galatians 4:26], therefore consider that commandment to “Honour thy father and thy mother ...” again in a new light ...

Yet, let us consider someone, whom the mother of King Lemuel called, “Wisdom”, above even these. Turn to Proverbs 1 and afterward Proverbs 31 [more detail on this if requested].​

Three more well known:

Eve, the mother of all living [KJB Genesis 3:20], that is to say, the 'living' would be those of faith who would accept the promise of God, in the Everlasting Gospel [KJB Genesis 3:15, 'seed'], even as she repented of her sin and believed [KJB Genesis 4:1, 'a man from the LORD']. She lost two of her own dear children, and thus came to know somewhat of the heart suffering of God Himself [for all those who will be lost because of sin], the one [Abel] to murder by his brother, the other [Cain], the brother, to selfishness and so having murdered Abel, fled, yet she was still willing to believe God in His promise, of the Redeemer to come through her, and so Seth was born to her.

The beautiful wife of Abraham, Sarah, who repented of her sin of disbelief, and believed, of whom the scripture [KJB Hebrews 11:11] says, “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” It was also said of her, that she in true love, reverenced her house-band, calling him “lord” [KJB Ephesians 5:33; 1 Peter 3:5-6], and so much so, that in her early mistaken unbelief of God's promise, loved and esteemed Abraham far and above herself [KJB Philippians 2:3], that she was willing to give him her handmaiden, Hagar, that Abraham could have a child, which she, seemingly, could not bear him. What was the true beauty of the woman, more precious than gold, even the gold of Ophir [KJB Job 28:16]?

There is also the precious Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, the mother of Samuel, whom steadfast in faith, persevering in prayer [KJB 1 Samuel 1:18,20,27] and faithful in her vows and promises to God [who had always and ever been loving and faithful to her], gave her firstfruits, her only and best, of her womb, to God's service [KJB 1 Samuel 1:22-28]. If after we have received our petition from God, will we keep our vows to Him, and changeth not [KJB Psalms 15:4; Matthew 5:17; James 5:12]?​